Effect of Ginger, Curcumin and Their Mixture on Blood Glucose and Lipids in Diabetic Rats

The present study was conducted to evaluate the hypoglycemic, hypolipidemic and antioxidant effect of curcumin, ginger and their mixture in streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic rats. Material and Methods: Male albino rats (n=35) weighing (180-195 g) were divided into two main groups; first group: negative control (n=7) fed standard diet and second group: diabetic rats (n=28), which divided equally to four subgroups as follows: diabetic untreated rats (positive control), diabetic rats treated with curcumin (0.5 % of diet), diabetic rats treated with ginger (3% of diet) and diabetic rats treated with their mixture. Diabetes was induced by a single intraperitonial injection of STZ (65 mg/kg body weight). Results: The results reported that the STZ-induced diabetic group exhibited very highly significant (p<0.001) hyperglycemia, hyperlipidemia, elevated in malondialdehyde (MDA) accompanied with weight loss and reduced in high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) level, superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT) enzyme activities when compared with control negative group. Treatment with curcumin, ginger or their mixture reported very highly significant (p< 0.001) improvement in biological evaluation, glucose, insulin, lipid profile, lipid peroxidation and antioxidant enzymes activities when compared with untreated diabetic group. Histopathological investigation of liver and pancreatic tissues of diabetic rats represented the presence of sever changes, meanwhile treatment overcome this changes, the majority of the cells tend to be normal, this improvement in the cells may explain the antidiabetic effect of the plants under study especially in their mixture. Conclusion: This study demonstrates that the curcumin and ginger mixture possesses significant reduction in hyperglycemic and hyperlipidemic, as well as antioxidant effect in diabetic rats. Therefore, it recommends using mixture of curcumin and ginger to alleviate the oxidative stress caused by diabetes. Further research is required to find out the exact mechanisms of curcumin and ginger responsible for antidiabetic and antioxidant activities. [Hala A. H. Khattab, Nadia S. Al-Amoudi and Al-Anood A. Al-Faleh. Effect of Ginger, Curcumin and Their Mixture on Blood Glucose and Lipids in Diabetic Rats. Life Sci J 2013;10(4):428-442] (ISSN: 1097-8135). http://www.lifesciencesite.com. 56